Mary Kinnaird

Mary Kinnaird or Mary Jane Kinnaird, Lady Kinnaird; Mary Jane Hoare (1816–1888) was an English philanthropist and co-founder of the Young Women's Christian Association. Kinnaird has one Women's College and a girls' High School in Pakistan and at least one school and hospital in India named after her. Life Kinnaird was born Mary Jane Hoare in 1816 at Blatherwick Park in Northamptonshire. Her parents William Henry and Louisa Elizabeth died in 1819 and 1816 respectively leaving her an orphan whilst still a child. She lived with her paternal grandfather Henry Hoare of Mitcham Grove until he died in 1828, when her elder brother Henry Hoare (1807–1866) became her legal guardian. Her day-to-day care was left to aunts and uncles and a governess. She was inspired by reading the evangelist William Romaine's works to Bible study, daily prayers and evangelism. In 1837 she became her uncle's de facto secretary. He was the Honourable and Reverend Baptist Wriothesley Noel who was based at St John's Chapel in Bedford Row in London. She established her own projects and formed St John's Training School for Domestic Servants in 1841. Another pet project was to help fund a Calvin memorial hall in Geneva. She and the Reverend Noel wanted to encourage the spread of European Protestantism and she was visited several times by both the Swiss minister Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné and the French minister Frédéric Monod. Driving force Her work was empowered when she married in 1843 Arthur Kinnaird, 10th Lord Kinnaird, who was the Lord Kinnaird of Inchture, and the second Baron Kinnaird of Rossie from that year. They settled in London and every Wednesday they would invite discussion on philanthropic projects. She was shy and did not undertake public speaking, but she was the driving force. Her own personal project was to raise money by crowd-sourcing a book of prayers. The funds raised were for the Lock Hospital and Asylum, which she and her husband supported. Her husband was a strong supporter of women's suffrage, but she felt that this was not in keeping with her idea of a woman's role. She did not speak in public, but it is thought that she wrote her husband's speeches. Kinnaird worked with Florence Nightingale to train nurses for the Crimean War. As part of this work, she created the North London Home where women could stay. The home had its own library. In the same year, as she gave birth to the youngest of her children, Emily.